Five policemen injured in attack by villagers

Panaji: Five policemen were injured, two of
them seriously, after being attacked by locals at Velim
village in South Goa late Saturday night, police said.

District Superintendent of Police Arvind Gavas said that
there was a misunderstanding on the part of the villagers when
a police sub inspector and a constable attached to Special
Branch were on a visit to the village to take stock of the
situation there ahead of the March 3 Assembly polls.

It was at the same village a flying squad, at the
instance of State Election Commission, had raided premises of
the priest a fortnight ago which had angered the locals. The
raid had not yielded anything.

Police Sub Inspector Kapil Naik and a constable were
attacked by the crowd when they went to meet priest Fr Romano
Gonsalves attached to St Francis Xavier Church.

Eye witnesses said that the crowd was angry at the sight
of policemen at the house of the priest and attacked them.

"It was an unprovoked attack. The PSI and constable were
unarmed. They had been asked to go around and take stock of
the situation in the wake of March 3 polls," Atmaram
Deshpande, Superintendent of police, said.

The situation in the village worsened when more
policemen arrived at the scene and another PSI and two more
policemen attached to Central Reserve Police Force were
attacked while a local person was also injured.

All the injured were shifted to local hospitals. Two
policemen including a sub inspector are reported to be in
serious condition.

Gawas said that the situation in the village is now
normal even as additional police force has been deployed
there.